This summer, a team of students from Zinca Golescu National College Pitesti will represent Romania at the SESI FIRST World Robotics Championship INTERNATIONAL OPEN – Rio de Janeiro 2022.
Such news could not go unnoticed. And certainly not for us! That is why we chose to become part of the materialization of this chance by directly sponsoring the participants in the robotics championship.
Who is the “TehnoZ Lightning Bolts” and how has the team qualified for the World Championship?
“TehnoZ Lightning Bolts” is a team coordinated by computer science teacher Ghiordunescu Gratiela and consists of 10 students passionate about robotics. The team includes: Arcan Sara, Coltan Rares, Dumitru Matei, Grecu Stefan, Lazar Ruxandra, Lucan Ioana, Manda Evelina, Matei Toma, Popa Vlad and Rizea Maria.
The “TehnoZ Lightning Bolts” stood out at the national robotics competition FIRST LEGO League Challenge 2022 Romania, where they won the second prize and the title of VICE-CHAMPIONS of Romania. A title strong enough to qualify them for the most important stage: the World Robotics Championship in Brazil.
Being invited to the demo event organized by the students themselves on June 20, I asked them what it was like to participate in the national competition and what helped them to qualify.
“It was a combination of criteria. Not only the programming part was evaluated. The jury took into account both the research/documentation part, the team values part (values that they presented and argued in the competition), and, of course, the robotics part. Now, they are working on optimizing the project “, explained the coordinating professor.
“And in Brazil we will participate with another robot, not the one we were in at the national competition. And now we are working hard to optimize it to get the best result “, one of the team members said.
Beyond the result obtained, equally fascinating is the enthusiasm of the children who amazed us with their involvement and the way they managed to document and organize themselves both in competition and outside it.
As true professionals, they have divided their team into roles, thus covering all the needs that may arise in the project – from programming and mechanics to marketing and administration.
The focus of the project was not established by chance. However, they have reached a key point in the global agenda-setting: green transport (the idea of optimizing the transport of goods with benefits in terms of driver safety and comfort, environmental impact, and keeping goods transported in the best possible form).
The jury was also impressed by the fact that the team proved to be documented beyond the technical part. The “TehnoZ Lightning Bolts’ ‘ explained and argued in competition how such a project can be applied in reality, including from a financial perspective, by accessing European funds.
What do the projects developed by the robotics group from the Zinca Golescu National College look like?
This is a curiosity that the members of the robotics group greeted with a demo event to which we were invited.
“This event was made 100% of their initiative. They organized everything. We – the adults – were more of a support,” explained the coordinating professor.
Once I opened the hall door where they held this event, I felt that I was escaping from the present… directly into the future. They built a world of all possibilities created by a perfect mix of creativity and technology.
And, because we didn’t leave this meeting empty-handed, here is a video in which we tried to capture something of the atmosphere created by them at the demo event.
Why For the Love of Programming and what attracts us to be part of the story of such projects?
If you’ve been following us on the blog or social media so far, you’re already familiar with the Roweb story.
If, on the other hand, you recently came to our page, you are probably wondering why #ForTheLoveOfProgramming.
The Roweb story began during computer classes when a teacher (today, the company’s CEO – Viorel Costea) managed to instill a passion for programming in his students. Later, 3 of them (Gabriel Rosu, Razvan Veliscu, and Mirel Ionescu) became his partners in a business that was shaping up in a context in which digital was just a little more than a rumor.
“As a teacher, I’ve met students with great potential. It’s one of the privileges of teaching: to see not only what a student is, but also what he/she can become someday. Their enthusiasm and capabilities were definitely an inspiration for me. On the other hand, I’ve noticed a real potential for creating an IT company on the market. So, putting these two together, I’ve realized soon that it would be a real lost opportunity not to involve some of my (former) students in a bold project.”
Viorel Costea
Co-fondator & CEO Roweb
Roweb has grown rapidly from year to year, bringing more and more diversity to the company’s culture. However, something remained irreplaceable: the passion for programming.
